First lady Melania Trump cautioned thousands of college students on Wednesday that the opioid epidemic could affect any of them, and said she’s had talks about the dangers of opioids with her own 12-year-old son, Barron.
Trump has visited several hospitals and facilities in the last two years that treat people who are addicted to opioids, as part of her Be Best initiative. Her visit to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., was one of her more high-profile events on the issue.
“What has struck me with each visit is how this epidemic has touched so many people — whether it is because of personal use, or that of family members, friends, coworkers, or neighbors — opioid addiction is an illness that has truly taken hold of our country,” Trump said.
Trump was joined by Eric Bolling, a former Fox News host whose son died last year of an accidental opioid overdose. Trump said she has had talks about the danger of opioids with her own son, Barron, and said the media should pay more attention to what she is doing to spread awareness on the issue.
“They can mess up your mind and body,” she said of their conversations with Barron. She said she’s told him to “love yourself more than you love drugs.” Trump said that while Barron is at an age at which children may not always listen to their parents, “I hope he follows what I teach him.”
She also said she wishes the media would focus more on the epidemic and her efforts to combat it instead of what she sees as unimportant sideshows.
“They would like to portray different stories and focus on different, unimportant stuff really. And I’m here to shine the light on important stuff and talk about things I can help,” Trump said.
More than 72,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surpassing the record 63,632 deaths in 2016. Opioids have largely been blamed for the surge in deaths, and the Trump administration has called it a public health emergency. President Trump signed a bill last month in an effort to tackle the crisis, giving more hospitals funding to care for more patients and encouraging the development of nonaddictive treatments to pain.
“While you may never personally become addicted, the chances of you knowing someone who struggles with it are very high. And if you, or someone you know needs help, you need to be brave enough to ask, or strong enough to stand with them as they fight through the disease. You need to be educated enough to know the signs of addiction, and also secure enough to talk about it, and keep talking about it until help arrives,” Trump said.
She ended her speech with a message of hope, telling the students they have the potential to end the crisis by talking to friends and family about the crisis.
“I believe that as our next generation, you have the potential to not just reduce, but eliminate the statistics I mentioned earlier. I also believe you have the capacity to not think of this in terms of statistics, but to think of this as a human story and an opportunity to save lives. I believe in your unending potential to change our world for the better,” she said.
